Not able to download updated file on front end [Permissions]

[MikeUnderwood]

I hope someone can help me out with this, my client tried to update a file in the backend of JDownloads and it will not download on the frontend here https://www.deathsdoorspirits.com/press/downloads/category/23-distributors  I tried updating the file as well and get the same results.   I tested this with both a pdf and a zip file of that pdf and have the same problem, while I was able to replace a jopg image without a problem. I have checked the permissions and am able to download the file on the backend by clicking on the download icon and that works file.

  Any suggestions of what to check.

I updated to JDownload     3.2.44 and that did not help. The site is Joomla 3.4.8 using PHP 5.6 on an Apache server. Thank you.  Mike


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[ColinM]

Hi
Could you please advise how you 'updated' the file.  Did you first delete the existing file and then Browse for its replacement, or did you just Browse  for the replacement?  Which User Group was being used during the update?  Was any change made to the Download?

Could do with a step by step sequence to try to reproduce.

Presently when I try to  download the file I get redirected to what looks like the results of a 'list all Categories' menu item.  Is that happening on your site?

Colin

[MikeUnderwood]

Colin,

We replaced the file and that is all that was done.  The user was in the super user group and I get the same results on the front end that is my issue.  Mike

[ColinM]

Mike
Sorry to be pedantic but there are several paths here.  I have not been able to reproduce your problem. 
So I really do need an 'idiots' guide as to what was the sequence in order to help find the problem.   

Another thought.   Have you got automonitoring enabled?  Or did you see an automonitoring report?
Colin

[MikeUnderwood]

Colin,

I do not have Automonitoring enabled, screen print is attached as well as screen prints showing what I did.  We do not have any caching enabled or anything like that.   I will PM you my access info as this is really odd to me as it worked for a .jpg image on the Vodka 750ml bottle just not a pdf or zip file.  Thank you, Mike

[gelöscht durch Administrator]

[ColinM]

Mike
Thanks for the pics - they are clear.
I had tried that approach on my test site and had no problem. I was 'overloading' existing file  with an identical one except for name. So I will try a different one.
Colin
PS yes please PM me the  super admin details.
C

[ColinM]

Mike
Believe the problem solved.  It was a permissions problem

I have looked at the Options on the jD Control Panel tool bar.  It has Download Permission set as Allowed for Public UG.  This is normal for a jD Install.

Also looked at Top level Categories 'Contact Information' and  'Bottles', specifically the Permissions.  In both cases Public UG did not inherit the Download Permission, which they should have inherited.  So in both cases I did a Save and then the Download Permission was inherited correctly to give Computed Permission as Allowed.

Then went on to Downloads in the Bottles cat. For example 'DD Gin 70cL Bottle' and 'DD White Whisky 750mL Bottle'.   Both Downloads had the Public UG Permission for Download set to Allowed.  So I changed it to Inherited which is the normal state. After saving  both Downloads were now Allowed through Inherit.

For reference in the permission chain then each level must compute to allowed for the appropriate UG.  In general from the top level cat, through any intervening sub cats to the actual Download itself.

So having done the above I was able to download 'DD White Whisky 750mL Bottle' and 'DD Gin 70cL Bottle' AOK as a Public User - they are certainly hi-res pdfs

To avoid you having to go through all the Downloads individually and change each Public UG Download permission I used the jD Tool Reset Downloads Permissions to do in bulk.

But I had to go back to the Downloads and do a Save & Close on each one  - I only did the six Bottles ones, the other 40 still need doing!

So to complete you need to visit every Category and do a Save & Close, and similarly for every Download - except ones I have done as above.

I do not know why the top level Categories had not been saved.   Did you migrate from an earlier version say jD 1.9 or jD 2.5 series?
This is the second time in a week that I have discovered this problem.  Perhaps it is another internal change in Joomla! 3.5.x !!

It would seem that the file update was not itself the problem.  Also for some reason the Super  User is not being allowed to override the permissions.

Anything you can tell us about when the problem started  could be very helpful.

Colin
PS I noticed you have created your own  Files layout.  You probably used one of the 2.5 table based layouts.  To get full responsive ness on mobile phones etc you would be better re-doing it based on a 3.2 series  layout. And of course switching to the 3.2 types elsewhere. 
C

[MikeUnderwood]

Colin, The file in question was the     

US Distributors file located on the front end here: https://www.deathsdoorspirits.com/press/downloads/category/23-distributors   I went into that entry and tried Saving and Closing to update the permissions but that is not updating the permissions for the download.   I checked the global setting (screen print attached) and that is correct but it's not picking this up.   The site is Joomla 3.4.8 so it's not a 3.5.x issue in this case.   I then went into each category and set the permissions there and it is working now.  I used the latest version from Feb 2014 not sure what version that was but the site at that time if I remember correctly was 3.2.x since it was a new site that I used this on.

[ColinM]

Mike
Thanks.  Yes you do need to set the category permissions first - in your case the Save does it.  Then the Downloads.
Colin

[MikeUnderwood]

Thank you for clearing that up for me.

[ColinM]

Mike
The present setup for permissions is that the Public UG can see and download everything.

If you think perhaps now or later that you might like to have some categories as Registered users and some Public then I would suggest you set this at the Top level Categories. That is you could set all the Cats you want as Public to have Download permission set positively to Allowed for PublicUG. 
Those top level Cats to be only available to Registered then set those cats with PublicUG as Inherited and Registered UG as Allowed.  After each change remember to save.  Then go to the Options button on toolbar on jD Control page and set Public UG to Inherited. Never use Deny as it has many unexpected side effects.

If you want only registered UG to see the 'private' parts then set the view Access level to Registered on the relevant Categories.

You might also like to restrict usage of the backend  by allowing the access from the frontend to a specific UG which I usually refer to as the 'uploader' UG. Please ask if you are unsure.  There are also several articles.

Colin